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Monthly Archives: October 2017

As the days get colder and shorter, it becomes more and more evident that summer is gone and we need to get ready for winter. Over the summer a lot of people quit smoking to live a healthier lifestyle and improve their quality of life, but unfortunately the holidays can be an easy time to get back into it. Between company parties, family get togethers, and the normal everyday stressors, there’s a lot of ground for slippery slopes when it comes to smoking. If you know someone who has recently quit and want to help them here are a few ideas that may help.

Coworkers and Acquaintances

As someone’s coworker, you may not always be their best friend, but you can still be friendly enough to support them in their struggle while at work. Smoking at work used to be routine; they’d finish a task and reward themselves with a smoke break. To help a coworker stay smoke free, tell them that you want to take breaks together. You can grab some coffee, just chat, or potentially exercise a little if you work somewhere that can accommodate physical activities. Regardless, if they don’t have anyone to stop them, it’s really easy for them to get back into.

Close Friends

When you are friends with someone, it is a lot easier to support them and help them stay smoke free because you genuinely care about them and their health. If you personally have a bad habit, you could make it a challenge to see if you can both break them. For example; drinking soda. As long as they can stop smoking, you can stop drinking soda. If one or the other cheats, put something up as a wager. It could be money or something more funny. Regardless, nobody likes to lose, so it’ll be good for you both. Another way you can support your friends and keep them smoke free is to stay with them when others go out for a smoke. When a recent non smoker is near a big group of smokers, it is not good. Stick with them and try to distract them from it. Eventually they won’t feel the urge to join in. You can even keep some nicotine gum with you if they are really wanting a fix. That way they have no excuse to “just take a few puffs”.

Family Members

As family members, you probably want your loved ones to stop smoking most. If they are a longtime smoker, this could be really hard. Luckily, with enough love and support, it can still be done; quitting is half the battle, staying smoke free is another. To help here you can use a combination of techniques. Since they recently quit smoking, they probably need some new clothes that don’t eternally smell. Buy them some new garb at Bloomingdale’s and emphasize they don’t want to ruin their new, fancy clothes by reverting back to bad habits.